A hard goodbye for the narcs Former staff of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service talk about unemployment and a collapse of policing

On April 5, 2016, Vladimir Putin closed down Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) and transferred its functions over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The service employed more than 30,000 people, but bureaucratic confusion in the handover left 16,000 of those staff members without a job. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is unenthusiastic about offering old employees new positions, but heroin dealers on the “Dark Web” haven’t been shy about contacting former FKSN workers with work opportunities. Meduza spoke to several former employees about their lives since the service was folded into the Interior Ministry. They talked on the condition of anonymity. 

“M”

Federal Drug Control Service agent in the Transbaikalia District

I worked in the field for five years, observed the situation in the city, and caught drug traffickers. I thought I would continue working there until retirement, so I took out a mortgage and various loans, payments for which collectively amount to 35,000 rubles [$525] a month.

I was made redundant on May 31 and there was no position for me at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Their official rejection was composed of two clauses: “We have assessed you. You do not fit our needs.” This came despite the fact that the president’s order dictated that the police [a part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs] were obligated not only to accommodate all of the former employees of the Narcotics Service, but to respect their existing titles, seniority, and benefits.

But in the Transbaikal District, the police simply ignored the decree and blamed its failure to comply on an issue with its internal documents.

I have not made any money since, but I have accumulated debt, taken out a loan with unclear terms, and my daily life is on the verge of collapsing. I have problems within my family and we are nearly approaching divorce.

Many people have similar problems. Many of my acquaintances have mortgages, too.

Three hundred people served in the Transbaikal branch of the Federal Drug Control Service, but only 14 of them found jobs with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The others are in limbo. The Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted assessments of each employee and composed a blacklist. We spent a long time trying to understand to logic behind it, but we couldn’t figure it out. Perhaps it is corruption or perhaps the Federal Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are settling some old scores and we, ordinary agents, are unable to find work as a result.

We wrote to the prosecutor but got a vague answer. Fifteen of us went to court. But even if we win our case, we will not be allowed to work normally. The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not say so explicitly, but the implication was obvious.

The worst thing is that the operation is suffering. Previously, we had nipped the sale of heroin in the Transbaikal region in the bud. But now the situation is getting out of control again. People are dying of overdoses. The Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot cope with the situation.

There is an Internet forum where drug traffickers communicate; they are also aware of the situation. They put up an advertisement targeting former Narcotics Service employees reading: “Come. We will be glad to see you. We know that you are competent people.” If we go over to the other side, it will be a very big loss for law enforcement agencies. You needed special talent to work in the Federal Drug Control Service. Such people no longer exist.

We’re depressed, as if thrown out onto the street like abandoned dogs. Many have seen their health deteriorate; a former colleague almost died of a heart attack. People wanted to keep going, but with tears in their eyes they were forced to resign.

There is no help coming our way from the central unit of the Federal Drug Control Service. Our former bosses have withdrawn and abandoned us all. We are alone, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs does whatever it wants with us. And the leadership of the country is probably unaware of what is going on. Our president is a decent person, whom we all love and respect. I think that he is simply being lied to and does not know that our food is being taken out of our mouths and that we are on the verge of living life as if it were the Siege of Leningrad.

“N”

Federal Drug Control Service investigator in the Kemerovo region

The Ministry of Internal Affairs doesn’t need us. This is constantly made known in conversations with ministry employees. What made the Federal Drug Control Service different? It was a small structure carrying out meticulous, long-term work. The police, by contrast, is involved in street crime. They operate on another level.

Now, employees who served the service for decades are being offered unequal jobs in the ministry. A senior detective who used to track down elicited criminal groups of 10-15 people is now looking for drug addicts who steal mobile phones. This is simply sad.

I waited a month to see what type of job I would be offered, but eventually concluded that I would not accept anything, regardless of what it might be. Efficiency played a big role in our work. If we had information; we could mobilize our resources within hours. For example, I could independently send a request to a mobile operator. An Interior Ministry investigator with the same job, however, would need to pass through four of his bosses and obtain a signature from each of them to achieve the same results.

Or, for example, I had my own spacious office; I felt comfortable there. In the Interior Ministry, three investigators sit in the same area, each with his phone ringing and meetings going on constantly. How’s that for quality of work?

The transition works differently in different regions. It is a good thing that we received our salaries for June. In some places, people weren’t paid at all. At the very least, our Interior Ministry’s regional district developed a new drug control department that is now hiring former agents. But we investigators are still at home, because we have nowhere to go. Then there are the janitors and the drivers, who were thrown overboard, too.

I was able to find a job on my own. It would have been nice, of course, to continue serving the government, as I consider myself morally and physically strong. Perhaps I will join the local branch of the Investigative Committee or the Prosecutor’s Office. Others join the civil service, becoming lawyers or business people.

I don’t know why all this is happening. We have a joke that the gypsies must have paid the president well. From an ignorant point of view, there is little difference between the Interior Ministry and the Federal Drug Control Service. Power structures take advantage of this, saying: “Why would we need to duplicate an existing function?” Perhaps this is the very perspective that the head of state was offered. Drug traffickers are no longer afraid; they are selling openly. In some regions, drug prices have fallen sharply. The risks have dropped and demand is up.

“O”

Security officer in the Krasnoyarsk district of the Federal Drug Control Service

In the Krasnoyarsk region, half the staff got put onto the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ secret blacklist. Back in the day, FKSN agents would sometimes bust police officers for illegal drug trafficking, as we’d always rub the Interior Ministry’s nose in its low solved-crime rate.

For example, we’d target mass online stores, seizing dozens of kilograms of heroin and marijuana. What about the ministry? It would catch an addict with a gram of heroin. I’m not saying we didn’t also catch people with such little amounts, but we didn’t consider this a success. And now, as a result, the ministry is persecuting us.

They refuse to see us in person, writing this failure off as issues with their own security or an “absence of legal education.” If you had more than two traffic violations in one year, they reject you for being prone to delinquency. All this is illegal. The ministry doesn’t know how to write a rejection, so it makes you take a “voluntary” lie-detector test, which can either be interpreted to your benefit or to your downfall. Everyone who fails is sent to start formal procedures for dismissal.

Many who leave file lawsuits, and the judges seem to be our side. But no time spent in court compensates for the stress we endure. Furthermore, those who do sue then risk failure upon taking exams to recertify themselves or maintain their licenses. The despair is such that you just want to bow down your head and go with the flow.

The experience that we accumulated over the years has been thrown in the trash. Crime has increased, while crime detection has decreased by 40 percent over the past year, which is an awful lot. Across the country, dealers are openly selling drugs. They are even being sold even in schools. Prices have dropped so low that now even children who ask their parents for money to go to the movies can afford to buy drugs.

Former agents have been put at the mercy of fate. Each former agent had confidantes: real patriots, who helped make the country better. Many of them refuse to cooperate now. They do not trust the police and see the structure as incompetent.

The Interior Ministry refuses to hire us, and people who find themselves on the minister’s blacklist are simply expected to give their notice and stop serving. For example, if you have but a year left until retirement, you don’t have anywhere to serve it out. I think that this was the government’s method of dealing with unsuccessful pensioners.

Sixteen thousand people thrown out and, alongside them, their relatives. I think this can all contribute to a bad re-election campaign for You Know Who.

“L”

Department of logistical and financial support employee of the central office of the Federal Drug Control Service, Moscow

Starting on April 13, when we received notifications of the service’s reorganization, we just sat and waited. At first, we thought we would continue working or that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would have something available for us. Instead, when June 1 came along, we were suddenly told: “Why are you still sitting here? You no longer work here.” So, we all got up and went home.

There was no information for the first ten days. The ministry hotline recommended that we go to any of its officers to discuss vacancies. I went to several departments and sent in applications, but received nothing but rejections or silence. (There were many excuses.) My education was either not good enough, or—if it was sufficient—they would say, “We prefer better trained employees; you even do not know our software.”

Then, my friends told me that there had been a secret order within the ministry not to employ women from the Federal Drug Control Service. Having children is also a problem. Ministry officers came to conduct “interviews” at the Maroseyka [Federal Drug Control Service building]. They handed out pieces of paper with their telephone numbers and told us to look for work. There was a girl with a young child who was told by a female employee of the Interior Ministry, “How will you work with us? We do not need employees with young children!” Though my children are older, the same employee told me that I do not interest the Ministry at all. A woman said this! I walked out in tears.

Everyone is all in a state of desperation. Neither those from the human resources department, nor those from the investigations department, nor those from Special Forces can find work. Those who sat doing quiet work in the background are unemployed, as are those who risked their lives working in the service.

Now we live on what our husbands earns. We are managing, but we have children and mortgages. In a way, of course, I feel hurt by the president. I even wrote him a letter, but the response I got was just some automated, impersonal reply. I want to believe that he simply does not know, because we are being treated ruthlessly.

This text was translated from Russian by Raisa Ostapenko.